Revenge, Sweet Revenge
by Tziput13
Summary: The preparations for Luan's next prank end up in a mishap, and the Loud sister isn't thrilled. Enlisting the direct support of an unwilling Leni, she vows to seek revenge on the man who has dared to challenge her. Perhaps, though, everything may not work exactly as she intended.
1. The Mistake

_**AN:**_ _This is an idea I've actually thought up months ago (again). This story is going to be quite a challenge since I personally think Luan isn't a character easy to write, but I'm willing to take it on. Hopefully it'll be at least okay for you readers to enjoy. Updates will come slowly at least for the time being, but I'll try to make this work._

* * *

 _ **Revenge, Sweet Revenge**_

 _Chapter 1_

 **The Mistake**

Flip's Food & Fuel! If you were looking for the crudest mart in all of Royal Woods, you could not end up in a more despicable excuse for a store than this! Where quality is always high, or at least it was a month ago when the products were first placed on the shelves! Where customers are always welcome, as long as they have good money to wast—ahem, spend! Where everyone can work to gain a few more cents for him or herself, while spending entire afternoons cleaning the unholy bathrooms!

And of course, despite this rather horrific presentation, the owner himself couldn't care less about the debatable conditions of his shop. Flip was sitting on the chair behind the counter, feet placed over it as he went through the pages of the newspaper of the day, with very little will to start working hard… unless the endeavour could help him make a ton of money in a short amount of time. He was so immersed in the latest news regarding Royal Woods' happenings that he didn't even lower the paper to check the customer who opened the door and entered the mart.

"Suit yourself, whoever you are. I'm kind of busy here, so check here only if you have something to pay for," Flip grumbled mechanically. He expected the guy to either turn on its heels and go away or dive deeper into his shop, but unfortunately whoever it was it did not pay heed to Flip's words, as he heard its footsteps coming closer first and then its elbows impacting with the counter.

Flip sighed and placed the newspaper down, eyeing the _girl_ who had interrupted his daily news-surfing tradition. He wasn't particularly impressed to find out that he knew who she was: he did see her around a couple of times, like most of her family. "So, what's the deal, funny girl? I hope this is not something that will end with a couple of bucks in my pockets. I'd rather have more than a couple, in fact."

"That's very likely, actually," the girl said, grinning widely. "Heck, you may even find those pockets full, Flip! Or should I say, _over-flipped?"_

Flip groaned as Luan Loud jerked her head up, exploding with laughter. "Get it?!"

"I don't think the answer to that question would be appropriate for your age, so just get it over with, Loud. What do you want?"

"Oh, I was just looking for a few materials," Luan explained. "My family hasn't really been… uh, appreciating my efforts to make things a bit livelier at home, so I've been preparing some special stuff to do elsewhere. I have big plans, Flip… and you are going to play a part in it by offering the silliest, most devilish contraption you can think of!"

Flip leaned over the counter, his interest suddenly perking up as an idea played in his mind. "It's pranks we're talking about, you say? Well, would you look at that, I might have something that could catch your attention, young lady."

A moment later, Flip and Luan were inside one of the aisles, looking at a shelf full of an unidentified type of canned food. "These babies right here are supposedly fallout-tier delicacies, but I once opened one up and had to spend the rest of the day spraying the shop with a deodorant."

Luan took one of the cans out of the shelf and examined the writings on the metal. "Coyote meat?"

"That's just the name of the product, it's actually just weirdly prepared beef… though I wonder how they got those realistic coyote photos. Anyway, that's not the point."

"Yeah… this is basically a year's worth of portable gas bombs ready to use!" Luan exclaimed. "Perfectly usable and with no side effects unlike my little sister's chemical gas…"

"Your sister what?"

"Oh, nothing! I'll take them, I'll take _fifty_ of them!"

Flip shrugged Luan's weird reference off as he walked back to the counter, mentally counting what the jokester had to pay (and of course he was upping the price given how willing to take the merch the girl was). Soon, Flip found himself flapping through the sweet-feeling, green coloured paper of dollar bills.

"Pleasure to do business with you, Loud!" Flip said as Luan cheerfully waved at him with one hand, the other keeping a plastic bag full of cans with unfathomable organic matter inside. Once the Loud girl was out of the shop, Flip started to play with one of the cans he had retrieved from the shelf, passing it from one hand to the other.

"Well, Flip, you did it again. I can't believe I managed to snatch that price from her," he said, complimenting himself. "How much were these things anyway when I first had them arrive? Ten dollars for the whole package? Uh, I would've have thought my memory was better than this… but then again, it's been _three years_ since then…"

He was so immersed in his monologue that one of his hands failed to grab the can. The metallic container fell on the counter, its lid immediately flipping open and releasing the contents. Flip's eyes widened, already dreading the afternoon he was going to spend cleaning the mess up, but he was confused to realize that _nothing_ was coming out of the can… except for a tiny group of tiny arthropods.

"Huh?" Flip scratched his head as he picked up the can and checked the inside, only to see fully clean metal, from top to bottom. "Oh… guess that was what happened after that one mish-ap last year. I was wondering why the aisle wasn't that smelly…"

Then, Flip realized what he had just done concerning his latest customer, and his reaction was a chuckle.

"Good thing I got rid of most of them! Now, about that newspaper…"

* * *

Leni Loud was in a good mood. Granted, she was usually so most of the time, but for her that afternoon was fairly different than usual. After school, Leni usually found her home chaotic, full or ongoing arguments between her siblings, who were either shouting at each other or… at each other, but louder.

What she found upon putting her foot back into her house that day was, well, chaos, but not one caused by conflict. She had immediately realized that her sisters and brother were somehow spending a day without fighting each other non-stop, and Leni wanted to make sure that such an occurrence remained untouched for as long as possible.

Thus, Lynn and Lincoln were quite surprised to see their older sister suddenly put a tray with two glasses of water and a bowl carrying a few biscuits on the coffee table in front of them. The two had been watching TV in one of the rare cases were a television program interested more than one Loud sibling, the Love Boat excluded. The sport-enthusiast wanted to examine the soccer match and see if there were a few tricks she could learn from the players on the field, while Lincoln had mentioned something about some kind of new kid at school and wanting to follow the advices of him or her.

"What's the catch, Leni?" Lynn tilted her head, diverting her attention away from the broadcast for a moment. "You need some actual muscles with something? You just have to ask if you want us to lend a hand."

"Oh, no, I just wanted to make sure you two feel alright. Usually, when you and Lincoln spend time with each other, you are _going after_ each other."

"Correction, _I_ am the one going after him. I always start that, in fact…" Lynn threw a knowing glance at Lincoln, who gulped, but the girl simply chuckled and gave him a nudge. "Don't worry, Linc, you're free… for today."

Lincoln grunted, then he looked at Leni. "You do have a point, though, Leni. I've not seen Lori scold anyone since I came home. I think that's a record."

Leni smiled. "Hopefully, we can keep this up for as long as—"

" _Come right here, you little rascal!"_

" _Then move and catch me, little miss perfectionist!"_

Lincoln, Lynn and Leni sighed. Of course, it had to be the twins… but Leni wasn't going to call it quits so easily. "I'm still going to do my part in this. I feel like today is going to be great!"

"Oh, as long as you're offering us this, I'm not complaining," Lynn said, snatching a biscuit and putting it in her mouth. Lincoln limited himself to a simple nod, and Leni let them immerse themselves into the soccer match, directing her attention to the upper floor.

The twins were fighting, but maybe there was a way she could distract them from their omnipresent rivalry… someone who was great and getting the attention and raising the mood. As she walked upstairs, she saw Lana running through the hallway and back into her room, Lola driving her pink toy car behind her while agitating a princess staff like a morning star. _'Give me a sec, girls, and I'll get whatever made you fight out of your mind in no time… with Luan's help, hopefully.'_

As she turned left, she noticed that there was no sound coming from Luan's room. Considering that the jokester liked to practice her new skits as much as her roommate liked to strum a few notes every now and then, that was an oddity she couldn't help but notice. _'Maybe they're taking a nap? Nah, that would be weird, only Lily can nap in this house, and just because Lisa created those special earmuffs. What did she call them? Sound-boof?'_

She shrugged and decided that in the event that one of the two teenagers was really sleeping, she would just take a peek to check on them.

Before she could place her hand on the doorknob, though, the door was abruptly opened by Luna, who scrambled out of the room and slammed the door shut.

Leni was considerably confused. "Luna? What's wrong?"

"Sis!" Luna looked considerably flustered. "What, uh… nothing, I'm alright. Just… Luan. She's not… happy right now, and it's better if I leave… _we_ leave her alone."

Leni was saddened by the news. "Oh, I was going to ask her to help me with Lana and Lola. Are you sure? Maybe I can—"

" _No!"_ Luna grabbed her shoulders and shook her sister. "Whatever you think you can do, that's bogus! Luan has to be left to herself, Leni, or she may end up doing something _bad!"_

Leni thought about the current date. "Luna, don't you think you're being a little unfair? I'm not sure exactly what day of the week it is, I keep forgetting, but I'm pretty sure that we're far from April Fools."

"Well, she's in April-Fools-esque mode right now, and you and I both better leave her alone, trust me!"

Leni placed her hands on her hips, offended. "Whatever is wrong with her, I'm going to find out and help her out. And you should do the same, Luna!"

"Leni, you don't understand. She's looking for… ugh. Listen, I told you the truth, it's your choice, but remember my words: if you enter that room now, then there won't be any going back."

That said, Luna quickly walked away, while Leni glared at her. Just what was the deal with Luan that made her roommate act so strangely? She almost looked scared! And as long as spiders weren't involved and it wasn't the first of April, there was nothing to be scared of about Luan in her opinion.

Thus, Leni quietly opened the door and walked into the bedroom. "Luan? Can I talk with you for a moment?" she asked. "I was kind of looking for your help, but Luna looked a bit funny. Is there anything wrong?"

Once Leni made two steps into the room, the door behind her closed by itself. Leni glanced behind herself, surprised by the event, before realizing that Luan was nowhere in sight… it was possible that her sister was sitting on a picturesque looking chair right in front of her. Luan's 'royal funny chair'.

Leni started to feel like maybe Luna wasn't completely wrong as the chair slowly whirled around and Luan revealed herself to Leni.

"Leni… how nice to see you visit me," Luan drawled. She was not wearing her jokester hat, which was good news, but her dark facial expression didn't leave much to interpretation. Leni mechanically made a step back.

"Uh, hi, Luan… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you… I just—uh. I'll ask you later!" Leni blabbered in an attempt to find a way out of the situation.

"Why would you? If you're here, it means you wanted to talk with me, didn't you?" Luan replied. "Come on, don't be shy, _dear sister._ What did you want to ask me?"

Leni considered her options and concluded that screaming and trying to ram her way out of the door to escape wasn't her best choice. "I was going to, well… I just wanted to ask you to help me, Luan. Today everyone I saw was in a good mood and since the twins have just resumed fighting like usual, I kinda sorta thought you could find a way to distract them from their fighting. I didn't mean to ask you though if I knew you weren't feeling like it… I guess I was wrong from the start."

Luan sighed. "I understand. I'm afraid, Leni, that you'd have a point in guessing that I'm not in a good mood now…"

Leni was startled by her sister as she suddenly stood up from her chair and shouted dramatically. "I have been _beaten,_ Leni!"

Surprise and fear were soon replaced by puzzlement. "Uuh… what?"

"I have been fooled at my own game! In my search for the perfect materials needed for my new prank masterpiece, I visited a shop like others… and I bought what I thought was a perfect starting point, only to discover that it was all worthless, empty tin! And to make things worse, it was not my biggest rival or whatever… it was, of all people, Flip!"

Leni thought about it for a few seconds before slightly furrowing her brows. "That's no surprise. That guy does go a long way to do everything that makes him money. I never understood why he acted that way… I'm sorry that this happened to you, Luan."

Luan eyed Leni for a few seconds before passing a hand over her face. "No, Leni, you don't understand. Flip didn't just snatch a steal deal out of me. He _pranked me!"_

"Pranked?"

"Yes! He _staged_ this, I know it!" Luan affirmed adamantly, "And he did this while I myself was preparing for my next big scheme!"

Leni tilted her head. "Are you sure that' really what happen—"

"I _can't_ let this go, Leni," Luan pressed on, almost monologuing more than talking with her sister, as she turned away from her and walked to the window. "Flip has just declared war on the wrong person, and I'll make sure that he _knows_ what kind of mistake he has just done, as soon as possible…"

Leni flinched as Luan's tone shifted back into dark territory. Realizing that there wasn't much she could do to gain Luan's help, her instincts made her momentarily put aside her plans with the twins. Carefully, she approached Luan, who was still looking out of the room while holding her hands behind her back.

"Luan… I don't think that's really the best way to handle your distress. I, uh… I just wanted to say, if you need anyone to talk with to take your mind off that guy, I'm always here," Leni said, already raising a hand to touch Luan's shoulder. "If there is any kind of _help_ I can—"

Luan jerked around in a split-second. The movement was so sudden that Leni, taken aback, couldn't help jumping back. "EEEEP!"

Luan was unperturbed. She was staring at Leni with an uncannily serious expression… an expression that oh so slowly turned into a grin.

Unfortunately, it was a wicked one.

"Leni… Leni… Leni…" Luan said slowly. "Always the same. Thank you for your caring offer, but there's no need for any heart-to-heart talking… you just gave me a great idea that might just help me out with my problem here. In fact, why don't we get out and check out what the wins are up to before they destroy something of value from Lori? I'm sure you knew better than all of us what her immediate reaction might mean for all of us."

Leni's eyes widened. Luan was literally beaming now and had even willingly offered to join her in her quest, and she had no idea of what of what she said did the trick. Granted, the smile didn't promise anything good-meaning on the long term, but she was no more as sour as before!

"Really? You would?"

Luan passed an arm around Leni's head, still grinning. "Of course, Leni! You'll have my help…"

Her words toned down until they were more comparable to a whisper. "…and I'll have _yours. Mwahahahahahaa!"_

Luan suddenly stopped her evil laugh to look at Leni, and she took in the fact that that her sister's face had just bleached. The jokester simply eased her smile into a more neutral one, either not minding or not noticing the fact that she had almost made her sister flee the room in a panic.

"But first, let's deal with our little sisters, shall we?"


	2. The Preparation

_**AN:**_ _It's been some time, right? No, seriously. I'm late, like really late. Honestly, there are too many reasons to count that made me postpone getting to work on this fic so I won't be annoying and list all of them here. I'll just say that I have every intention to finish this one, no matter how much time it takes, and hopefully I can maintain momentum and keep writing in the next few weeks! This one was never supposed to be long, anyway, so fingers crossed!_

 _As a side note for late 2019 readers, the original plan for this one still hasn't changed since its initial conception in mid-2018, and I've failed to keep up with the series and the fandom meanwhile as well (I still haven't watched any Season 4 episode yet). Keep this in mind in case there were changes to the 'canon' I am not aware of._

* * *

 _Chapter 2_

 **The Preparation**

Sometimes, Flip couldn't help napping while at work. Since he considered his job a most _demanding_ one, he personally considered a few moments of rest not needed, _necessary_ for maintaining proper efficiency. Or perhaps he was slightly lazy.

In any case, short naps sometimes escalated into entire hours spent by Flip leaning on the counter of the shop, snoring like a hibernated boar. Which, consequently, brought to a common event: him being startled by a client's call for service.

"FLIP!"

Flip bolted upright, hitting the nearby newspaper in the process and dispersing its pages on the floor. "Uhh… what?" he grumbled, gazing half-awake at the surroundings. The shop seemed to be empty… did he just dream about someone screaming his name, or—

" _Flip!_ I don't have time to wait for your daily dose of laziness to consume itself. Get out of there! My scooter needs a refuel!"

Flip glanced outside through an open window and saw no other than Scoots herself, who started blaring the horn to make her point straight. He groaned, but nevertheless pulled himself out of the desk and started to move to serve the new customer. Most of the time people would just self-service themselves, but you couldn't really say no to an old woman. Good public image and all of that.

Notwithstanding that Scoots was probably livelier than half the entire youth of Royal Woods. But that was beside the point…

Unbeknownst to Flip, someone was keeping watch nearby. And once the gas station owner left the shop to go outside, two heads popped out of a bush on the other side of the road. Blonde air with sunglasses, and brown hair in a ponytail held by a scrunchie.

"Uuh… Luan?"

"Leni, not now," Luan hushed. She was holding a pair of small binoculars and getting a good view on Flip as he took out the pipe to refuel Scoot's fast vehicle… ignoring her sharp remarks at his slowness, of course. "Gotta keep my focus…"

"Are you really sure this is really needed? I mean, you even gave the nice woman money to, uh… get more fuel for her car-thingy. Why that?"

"Not just _that,"_ Luan specified. "She is our distraction, the excuse needed to get the _prey_ out of his lair, Leni."

Leni trembled. She was still trying to get used to the very picturesque wording Luan had begun using since yesterday… until that moment, she had never really thought about how it felt like to be on the other side of Luan's pranks, not as a victim but as an accomplice. Somehow, being able to experience the latter didn't seem to be something she enjoyed.

Nevertheless, technically Luan had _asked_ for her help, and she didn't say 'no'. Besides, she had helped her the day before with the twins… and she seemed to be happy. That had to count for something.

"Okay… but you didn't tell me why yet," she eventually added, hoping to get some insight on Luan's plans.

Luan sighed, as if Leni was a very naïve student, but she kept looking through the binoculars. "You must know, Leni, that the greatest pranks ever are often built around the victim himself. By studying Flip and his routine," she explained, "I can understand what he does and _would do,_ and in doing so I can devise the best possible way to take advantage of his typical 'character', so to say, and thus create the most apt plan."

"Uhh…"

"I mean… if I want to put a surprise cake on a spring for him, I need to know what cupboard he's most likely to open up during the day."

"Oh, right!" Now Luan's reasoning made more sense for her. Flip had finally finished his job, but for some reason he was arguing with Scoots now—most probably something regarding payment.

"Even from just this scene, Leni, we have learned a lot about Flip," Luan continued her lesson on Pranking 101. "How he generally behaves with customers, time needed for him to move… everything I need, and I can already see the plan slowly taking form. It's gonna be great!"

"Well… that's good, I guess," Leni tried her best to appear supporting. "But, what can I do to help you, then?"

"Great question! I just have the perfect task for you, Leni," Luan chirped happily, finally letting go of her binoculars and turning towards her. "You will be responsible with _manpower!"_

"Man… power?"

"Specifically, Leni, the hard-working hands we'll need to make the plan work," Luan was beaming, and Leni could imagine the cogs turning in her head as the 'greatest prank ever' came to be, oh so slowly. "And considering what I'm considering, we'll need quite a lot of it. Something like… about eight people."

"That's quite a few people."

"Indeed, but I'm sure you'll be able to convince just enough to join us in our rightful quest!" Luan patted Leni on her shoulder. She was grinning, and Leni wasn't sure whether that expression was reassuring or disturbing, or, worse, a mixture of both.

"Hey, who is hiding down there?"

Luan and Leni dived back into the bush at Flip's call. Both were so immersed in their conversation that they had missed Scoots finally taking her leave, flailing a fist at Flip as he counted the dollar bills. Flip didn't care much, but upon raising his head to turn around he noticed something like two human heads beyond the road, discussing something in the bush. When he saw them disappear, he wondered what the heck he had seen.

"Man, I really should stop snacking on the stuff on the counter. It's getting in my head," he grunted to himself before whirling around and returning to the shop. Luan and Leni emerged again from their hiding place just to see him close the door behind himself.

"So… as I was saying, you'll search for manpower. But I'll call you in case I need you to help with that, Leni! Meanwhile, I'll keep an eye on our mutual friend and see if I can think of more ideas to spice things up. If any issues arise, you can call me to help you sort things out."

"Okay…" Leni decided that she had fallen down the rabbit hole too far deep to abandon Luan right now. "Just, do you think there's anyone I can ask for help? I don't think my friends would be interested…"

"Oh, don't you worry Leni, I don't think you have friends willing to help us, either… but I just know the _man_ who does!"

* * *

"Absolutely not!"

Leni sort of expected that answer. However, Lincoln was not finished yet with his reply.

"I am not going to participate in any of Luan's own plans, Leni, no matter what she's told you to report to me!" Lincoln ranted. "First, because last time it Luan asked something like this to me it ended up being a prank on me, not whoever she's told you about, and I'm not falling for that again. Second, because even if this isn't the case, and I doubt it, I have too much to risk in embarking on such a quest… with my infamous sister as the captain of the ship, even! Leni, listen to me, Luan will bring down your ship as well!"

"But Lincoln, she has not built any ship… yet," Leni explained, perplexed by her brother's warning. Lincoln brought a palm to his front.

"No, no, what I mean is, Luan might be slightly blinded by her current lust for revenge. I realize that Flip is not the greatest guy to be around—though his Flippies are still great—but Luan's own idea for 'getting back at him' might go too far for all of us Leni."

"I… guess," Leni couldn't argue with her brother. In fact, she wasn't exactly keen on helping the jokester on her most probably extravagant plan of vengeance… her main reason for following her was that she genuinely wanted to help her out and make her feel better. Perhaps, she could try to help Lincoln see her own point of view.

"Linky, I just want Luan to stop thinking about this whole thingy that happened with Flip. I think she's getting a bit worked up by it… I mean, sometimes I it looks like she has some kind of special sense that lets her know when something isn't going her way with this whole pl—"

Leni's phone rang. As she picked it up from her pocked and answered the call, Lincoln couldn't help starting to worry that what Leni was talking about had just happened in front of him.

Unfortunately the thought proved to be right, if only in theory. "It's Luan, Lincoln," Leni talked as the repeater between her younger siblings. "She says that she suspects you might have some second thoughts about joining her, so she just wanted to tell you that there might be some… she calls them, 'queer developments', in case you decide to refuse."

Lincoln crossed his arms in defiance. "Luan!" he said loudly in order to make sure she could hear him through Leni's phone. "I'm not going to help you, and I'm definitely not going to act as your own recruiter or what, you hear me!?"

Leni listened to Luan's reply. "She has something to say to you in particular, Linky," she relayed as she offered her phone.

Lincoln grabbed the device and started ranting again, this time right into the speaker. "Now you listen here, if you think you can just go and expect me to—" suddenly, Lincoln's face did a 180° turn. His skin bleached and his eyes grew wide, and he almost coughed.

"You… wouldn't—ugh. Ugh!"

He groaned again and again, until he eventually relented. "All right, all right, no need to tell me twice. I'll do it. Bye, Luan."

He closed the phone. "What was that about?"

Lincoln dismissed Leni's question quickly. "Nothing too important, you don't want to hear about it, trust me. In any case, I'll help you two out."

Leni's face lightened up. "Great! Think you can ask any of your friends about lending a hand then? Luan talked about 'cooperativity' or something like that that your friends have."

"I guess so. I'm sure Clyde would join if only not to leave me alone while dealing on this one, but maybe I can get some of the others involved as well. Heh, if I recall correctly, Rusty did have one mishap with Flip sometime earlier this month, maybe he'll join on his own accord."

He launched a look towards the rest of the house. "Did you actually ask anyone of our sisters about this whole thing going on with Luan?"

"No, actually I didn't. Luan only asked me to 'make contact with you'," Leni explained. "Luna already knows about it, but she looked pretty nervous yesterday by this whole thing for Luan, I don't think it'd be good to ask her. If we can get some of the others in though, then maybe we'll make things easier for everyone!"

"Yeah… I'm Luan would appreciate someone with muscles, for starters… I just have to think up of some kind of reason for them to follow Luan, though. I doubt Lola would join without something in return, for one." The Man with the Plan was already in 'planning mode' and there was no stopping him now.

Leni let Lincoln think out loud as he planned his next moves, as of Luan's instructions. She was happy to see him aboard, though she still wondered about what Luan had just said that had magically made her brother accept his new task. She didn't want to bother him now, though, so she settled for making a mental note of it and asking about it later. Hoping that she remembered it in the first place, of course.

Her phone beeped, and when Leni checked on it, she saw a notification from Luan, once again. The master jokester had sent her new instructions.

' _Excellent work with Lincoln, Leni. Had to add something up myself to make him join, but now that he's in, manpower is no more a problem. Now, we'll need to deal with fuel, dear sister… it's something a bit more specific for my magnum opus compared to manpower. And I think that one of our siblings may have just what we need.'_

* * *

Leni stood in front of the door to Lisa's room, hesitating, procrastinating.

But she knew there was no way she could get out of this one. After all, Luan had been very clear with her request—in fact, she had made sure to know that Leni had understood what exactly she wanted to tell to Lisa, and what her request pertained concerning their younger genius sister.

She took in a deep breath, then finally knocked on the door. Surprisingly, Lisa replied right away, though not surprisingly she sounded annoyed by the disturbance.

"What is it that requires my attention at this moment?"

"Uuuh… Lisa? Can I come in? I have something to ask you about..."

"Is it about homework? I reckon we discussed during the last sibling reunion about my schedule for homework support this week, and—"

"No, no. It's something different. Can I? Pretty please?"

She heard a sigh coming from inside. "Very well, you can, but make it quick. And avoid tumbling over Lily's toys, she's being pretty chaotic today."

Leni opened the door, and what she saw proved that Lisa wasn't so exaggerating about the youngest Loud sibling. The entire floor was littered with toys, all appropriate for Lily's age mind you, but also, as such, particularly bulky and volume-occupying. While Lily played without a care in the world, too immersed in her own games to even register the intruder, Leni had to hop and leap her way through the minefield of plastic contraptions and stuffed creatures before she could reach Lisa and focus back on her task.

Lisa was immersed in her studies, though this time, she wasn't in lab coat attire, and neither was she using any kind of computing machine or beaker sets to make chemists redden in envy. Everything had been put aside, and Lisa was simply sitting in front of her desk with an appropriately tall chair, with a lamp lighting up a notable number of paper sheets. She had a pen in hand and was scribbling down equations, numbers and letters, so fast that Leni knew she'd get a bad headache if she tried to keep up with her.

She was sort of hypnotizing, even, which is why Leni almost jumped when Lisa stopped doing it and turned without notice to face her. "So, elder sibling, what is it so important that I need to interrupt my next discovery in Mathematics?"

"Uhh… well, it's a request of sorts, you know…" Leni started. Hiding the fact she was nervous wasn't working that well, since Lisa raised an eyebrow as she talked. "It's something a bit important, but it shouldn't cause that much, uuhh… annoyance to you. It's nothing that—"

"Get to the point, Leni," Lisa pressed, half because she didn't want to lose time, half because she had a hunch Leni wasn't enjoying it as well and she needed a push.

"Oh. Ahem… it's something for Luan."

Leni didn't have the time to explain herself that Lisa had already resuming scribbling on her notes. "The answer is no. See you later, elder sibling."

"Lisa, wait!" Leni protested. "Let me tell you a bit more about it. I know Luan can be a bit, uh, too much sometimes, but this doesn't have anything to do with something that may annoy you!"

Lisa stopped writing and turned slightly to look at Leni sideways. "Did she dictate every word you needed to tell me to convince me as well?"

"Yes… I mean, no! No, I mean, she said something about what I needed to tell you about, but that's wasn't… Oh."

"Luan is a mystery even for me sometimes, Leni, but eventually I've concluded that certain behaviours of her can be predicted. That is to say, given what you said, I know that she has a prank in mind… and I also know that such a thought from our jokester sister means only one thing: 'trouble'. I suggest you consider my thoughts as well, Leni. Perhaps, it's better to leave Luan to her machinations alone."

Leni stayed silent for a few seconds, thinking over what she had just been told. Lisa logic was, unsurprisingly, almost untouchable, but Leni had more than just ingenuity going on behind her resolve to help Luan.

"I… I know what you're talking about… sort of," Leni started. "But this one isn't something about you, or me, or any of us in the family. Luan wants to get back at someone that has apparently pranked her, and she's asked for my help. I… I think she's gotten into this thing a lot, and I don't want to leave her alone with it. She… I think she didn't take it too well, and if I can do something about it to make her feel better, I will do it."

"Hmm…" Lisa mused. "So you say she's more happy thanks to your help, and I guess mine?"

Leni nodded excitedly.

"And by happy you mean 'laughing evilly'?"

Leni stayed silent.

"I thought so…" Lisa sighed, then abandoned her pen and got down from her chair. "Yet, I want to believe you, if only because I also know you, Leni."

"Huh?" Leni didn't immediately catch what her sister meant, but Lisa didn't deign to explain herself as she looked around her room, glancing at the shelves and closets that, out of range of Lily, were filled with her personal items. Thankfully Lily herself was still too much occupied discussing something with a stuffed bear to notice her sisters' movements, so neither of them had to watch out for her sudden appearance while they were looking through Lisa's collection of materials and instruments.

"What is it that our vengeful sister needs then, Leni?" Lisa questioned.

"Well, let me get my phone one second," Leni drew out her smartphone and started fiddling with it. "She sent me a message with the exact things. Now… here it is!"

What followed was a list of items that got Lisa's interest, if only because of the level of detail transpiring from Leni's words. Luan seemed in particular to have an interest in… batteries. No, not just your commercial storage cells from any supermarket, specific battery types that were specialized for specific tasks, most importantly DIY-kind of deals. Lisa could only wonder what Luan had in mind with all of them.

"I hope Luan doesn't just expect me to lend her all of this. I may love my family, but economy doesn't really work this way," Lisa added once Leni was done.

"She said that thanks to Funny Business you should be able to get back most of the corresponding… uh, funds.. She also said that unfortunately she has little time, so she couldn't prepare something better, and faster, to repay you right away."

"I guess I'll have to take that and hope for the best. Even pranksters should fear the terror of debt, after all," Lisa said. "Very well, I'll see what I can do for you. Let's start with those long-term batteries…"

Lisa started for a closet, but before she opened it, she turned around to face Leni again. "Leni… one thing."

"Yeah?" Leni looked at Lisa with interest. That was a different tone than usual.

"Keep an eye on Luan. If what you told me is true, then perhaps support is really what she needs in these trying times."

* * *

Luna knocked on the door, and no one replied.

"C'mon, Lori!" Luan knocked again, half-worriedly, half-annoyed because she could distinctively hear Lori talking on her phone in her room. She glanced to the left towards Lisa's room in worry, but finally she heard footsteps and the door in front of her sliding open.

As expected, Lori was fuming. "Tell me why I shouldn't send you into musician's heaven right here and now, Luna! I'm very busy!"

Luna wondered how elastic the concept of 'busy' was for Lori, considering that she had heard her talking with Bobby already that day… more specifically, ten minutes before.

However, she knew better than to voice her thoughts, a bit because meeting Beethoven wasn't in her plans, a bit because of the main reason she had dared to get her older sister's attention in the first place.

"This is important, Lori! I just need a minute to explain myself, please!"

Lori glared at Luna for a moment, then she sighed. "Sorry, boo-boo bear," she talked into her phone again, "I have a sibling emergency right now. I gotta go, but don't you worry, I'll call you back! …bye!"

She ended the call, then stepped back to let Luna in. "I don't even know why I'm giving you a chance. Pray that you have a good enough reason for—"

"It's about Luan, Lori," Luna explained. "Yesterday she just went in full-April fools mode out of nowhere sometime after she got back home… she was scary, I tell you!"

The mention of 'Luan' and 'April Fools' in the same sentence managed to at least make Lori more interested in the matter. "April Fools? But it'll be months before we get there. What are you talking about?"

"I… I don't know, but I assure you, she was all about taking vengeance and crating the best prank ever. She is planning something, and I don't like it."

Lori thought about the news for a moment. "Mmh… maybe she doesn't want to do something to _us._ You said 'vengeance' right? Perhaps this is some sort of funny feud between funny masters, and you're literally being frightened by something you shouldn't be concerned about. Luan has a few friends that work in her field, I'm sure this is normal among them from time to time."

"Listen sis, this is more serious than it sounds. You haven't seen Luan or her face when she talked about this. Whatever is on her mind it can't end well, and I think we should all keep an eye on her."

Lori sighed. "You're starting to sound almost like you're making things up now, Luna."

"Well then, hear this: she's getting people involved. Leni wanted to ask her something yesterday—I tried to warn her but you know Leni, she thought Luan had some kind of issue and that she could help her out. Today I'm pretty sure she hung out with Luan after school, and when she got back I heard her talking with her during a phone call. I've even heard Lincoln talking with his friend Clyde about something he had to do for Luan, and now I've seen Leni enter Lisa's room as well. It's a big one."

Lori stood up, hands on her hips. "I still think you're exaggerating, but you seem too much preoccupied to just let it go, don't you? Heck, what's with all the 'hearing' things around? Are you taking notes from Lola?"

"No, I didn't mean to—oh, man," Luna groaned. "Okay, perhaps I'm putting too much thought into this, but the fact that Luan has something in mind, something big, is a fact, Lori. I can assure you that."

Lori wasn't sure yet, but overall, she had nothing to say that could show Luna her observations and theories were untrue. If anything, she had noticed Leni hanging out with Luan the previous day as well, dealing with something with the twins first and then discussing animatedly. She thought nothing of it (frankly, she appreciated Luan and Leni bonding over something different than the former chasing the latter with a fake spider stick), but now that Luna had shared her doubts, she couldn't help having second thoughts about it all.

Perhaps Luna had misinterpreted everything… or perhaps, there was some truth in her thoughts. And if that was the case…

"All right, Luna, considering how serious this entire matter may be you got me. I'll have to test if you're having the right idea first, though. Let's first check on Leni and see what she's doing right now—I actually haven't talked with her at all today."

Luna nodded and started for the door, Lori behind her. But before they could leave, Luna stopped dead on her tracks right by in the door frame, and Lori ended up bumping into her.

"Hey, what gives Lu—!"

"Shhh!" Luna simply motioned her to look over her and behind the door frame. Lori sighed but nonetheless followed her suggestions, and both sisters leaned by the door to check the first floor's hallway.

Leni was there, standing beside two heavy-looking bags full to the brim. From the distance, no one of them could them what stuff was there, but Lori had a strange hunch about it… especially since Leni was right out of Lisa and Lily's room.

"That is Lisa's stuff, Leni got in her room sometime before I knocked on your door," Luna whispered. "You see what I'm talking about? Leni isn't the type to need something from someone like Lisa, Lori. She's getting items for Luan!"

"How can you be so sure, though? She might even be helping Lisa herself for all we know," Lori argued.

Before Luna could reply, Leni managed to get her phone in her hands once again and dialled up a number. "Luan?" she said. "Hey, I've got what you asked from Lisa. Why, thank you, I'm just trying my best!"

Lori frowned as Leni talked. "What's this _ammunition_ you're talking about? Oh, so I don't need to help you with that, are you sure? Okay, I'll get Lisa's stuff there. Nothing to say about Lincoln, but I'm sure he's already asked a few of his friends to help us with your thing, Luan. Oh, okay, I'll see you this evening then. Bye, Luan!"

Leni ended the call, and her face smiling face faltered for a moment. Both Lori and Luna noticed this, though their interpretations as for why she did so might or might not have been accurate to Leni's real thoughts. Eventually, Leni grabbed both bags by their handles and grunted with some strain to lift them up. When she turned to look at her new destination—Luan and Luna's room, her two observers had already disappeared into Lori's room.

Luna and Lori didn't speak until Leni entered Luan's room with her two precious cargos. Only then, did Luna let out a sigh of relief. Then, she looked at Lori interrogatively.

Lori passed a hand over her face. "You've literally infected me with your own worry, you know that?"

Luna stayed serious. "We just have to see what the two of them are planning, sis. Maybe I'm just imagining things, but maybe it's better if we know what really is happening here and act accordingly, don't ya' think?"

"I guess it's still Luan we're talking about here, so you have a point," Lori conceded. She stood up.

"If Luan doesn't deign herself to be seen around here, I'll see if I can get something out of Leni. Boy… I'm almost scared to know what Luan is really up to this time."


	3. The Challenge

_**.**_

 _Chapter 3_

 **The Challenge**

' _I love it when a plan comes together… and I'll sure love it when this one does!'_

Luan cackled in her room, unable to contain her excitement. She was in the process of putting the finishing touches to her latest scheme, the desk where she usually prepared for comedy performances turned into a planning table full of paper notes stuck on a map, with even more written annotations on it. Names of people, arrows, and symbols dotted a diagram that pictured Flip's Food & Fuel, with a caricature of the man himself being at the centre of it, right at his usual position behind the counter.

It literally looked like Flip had no way to escape whatever Luan had devised, as the writing and annotations made for a full circle that trapped the entire shop.

Which, to be fair, was probably the point.

"Great!" Luan finally proclaimed to herself, raising her pen with finality. "This has to be it. Only needs a review and then it'll be done!"

She turned around on her seat, which was still the 'funny throne' she had yet to put away in favour of her usual desk chair, and looked at Luna, her older sister. Luna had been trying to rest her mind for a while, but despite Luan keeping her silence up to that point she couldn't help lying on her bed with her eyes wide open, listening to the noise of scribbling and rare paper shuffling in the half an hour before. When Luan had talked, Luna had already tried to sit up and strum some notes on her guitar in an attempt to distract herself, but all she had achieved were only a few badly played notes that hurt her own eardrums.

"Oh, Luna!" Luan exclaimed, much to Luna's surprise as she was still focused on her guitar. She almost yelped, in fact.

"Sorry, I couldn't help telling something to myself right now, but you know… when I have a stroke of genius I can't really let it go to waste, and considering I now just need to add some finishing touches… I had to celebrate a little!" Luan said with a grin. Luna gulped.

"So, uhh… you think this is gonna work, sis? You've been working on this… project since two days ago. Non-stop."

"I'm positive it will, Luna! I'm just sorry I can't really explain exactly what I am doing, but as I've told you already… a surprise is a surprise!"

"Yeah, I guess… I think I'm gonna leave now, I don't want to annoy you or anything…" Luan quickly said, standing up.

"Ya' sure?" Luan raised an eyebrow, and for a moment her constant borderline evil smile seemed to leave space for some worry. "You seem pretty distant lately, Luna. Something's been bothering you? Is that me?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing!" Luan quickly said. Replying with the truth would've probably have resulted with quite a few issues. Such as kidnapping.

"Don't worry about me, Luan, I'll just let you get your things done in peace, nothing to worry about!"

Before Luan could further interrogate her, Luna was already out of the door, shutting it behind her. Luan pondered over Luna's weird demeanour—since her decision at taking revenge her mind had been totally focused around her planning phase, so she had to have missed this in the previous days. In fact, outside of Leni and the circle of people she and the blonde had created to act as manpower, she hadn't been paying too much attention to her other family members.

For the first time, she wondered if her overall behaviour had been a bit too much lately…

And then, she shooed the thought away. She couldn't let herself get distracted right now! She would think about Luna later, now she needed to get things done, give Flip a piece of her own mind and—

"Luan."

Now it was Luan's time to be taken aback. She jumped on her 'funny throne' and ended up losing equilibrium, inevitably tumbling along with the chair on the ground with a _thud._

Luan immediately tried to recover herself and do damage control on her pride, but that was the last of her thoughts given that the being that had caused her sudden reaction was no other than Lori.

She stood leaning on the door's hinge, with her arms crossed and an unimpressed expression. She wasn't acting like Luna's almost fearful behaviour, but she didn't look like she was angry at her for something either. She was calm, but serious… inspecting, even. Suspicious.

Something that rang quite a few alarm bells in Luan's head.

"Lori!" Luan exhibited her best grin as she quickly stood back up and cautiously moved to block Lori's view. She also nonchalantly tried to move the papers still on the desk behind her back. "What a nice… visit! What's on your mind?"

"Oh, nothing in particular… I just saw Luna leaving, and wondered why she felt a bit worked up. I heard you're working on a big project," Lori said, her eyes narrowed. "Something about Funny Business?"

"Oh, yeah, the project! Well, it's not about Funny Business actually; it's a different thing altogether…" Luan bought herself time as she tried her best to stuff some of the papers under her dress, and hide the rest in the open drawer. "It's for an independent, uh, event… but I'm sure it will help me a lot with getting to be known more around Royal Woods and all!"

Technically not a lie, the main reason was indeed trying to let people about her skills… though 'people' in this case just included Flip, and 'skills' meant pranking prowess.

It was clear that such a generic answer wasn't going to immediately satisfy her older sister.

"Really?" Lori finally stepped out of the door and walked into the room. She eyed the 'funny throne', which was still lying down after its recent collapse on the floor—from this position it looked way less intimidating than usual. When she looked at the desk it was already empty, but it did little to ease her suspicious glare. "How would that even work? I saw you've been… getting things for this new undertaking, materials. Even things I wouldn't even remotely guess to serve for a prank of sorts. Things… much alike the ones you used to take in to prepare for your infamous April's Fools pranks."

"Oh, you're misunderstanding me, Lori!" Luan quickly corrected her. "This is a big thing, I admit, but it doesn't involve any of you guys—ahem, I mean, there is no prank or joke or anything else that sees you as target—urr, participants!"

Lori hummed and walked back giving a glance to the rest of the room. "Well, I hope you're gonna do well in this Luan… Just, try to not get too much invested in it, okay? I think you've been getting on Luna's nerves lately. I know you're trying to keep this a secret but… perhaps, you may consider talking with us a little more, if you're finding this difficult to handle by yourself."

Luan remained in silence, her caution forgotten for a second. It occurred now to her that maybe, her revenge plans was getting her invested a bit too much… It was clear that Lori and Luna had both taken an interest in whatever had been her focus lately, and both were either worried or suspicious about it… and she hadn't notice none of it. Better yet, Lori's apparent worries were also actually based on lack of information, since she had the support of her roommate of all people, plus others. Luan wasn't alone in this one… but compared to Luan and Lori, and heck—even Lily, she looked like she was working indeed by herself.

Maybe she could've shared something about it…?

No, this could've resulted in push backs, she couldn't stop right here! If the full Loud siblingship were to be aware of Luan's quest for retribution, Lori would probably call a sibling meeting where they would spend hours trying to convince her to desist. And if that didn't work, there were always the jolly cards—mom and dad, who could just put an end to it with a few stern words. And grounding.

She had to avoid this… she just had to keep it up and perhaps hasten the preparations. They could strike at Flip even tomorrow, if so they wished! And getting things done quicker was basically a necessity now… Lori had a bad hunch, no doubt about it, and she expected the elder Loud sister to be keeping an eye on her moves. In fact, Luna was probably on it too. Even if it was true that the Loud sisters had nothing to worry about concerning their own well-being, Luan had no idea to guess how they would react upon discovering what she was really up to, especially upon knowing how many other people in the family and even beyond it were actually involved in it.

Flip had to pay for his disrespect, one way or another, and nothing was going to stop her!

"Oh… okay, Lori, I'm sorry about not sharing more stuff with you, but this is very important for me and I really want to make things perfect. I just have to finish things off… things are going to get better, though, I promise!" she said with her best smile. "I'll make sure of it, it won't take much longer!"

Lori eyed her doubtfully, then sighed. "I hope this will be the case, Luan. Still, if you ever need something… you can talk to me. Just not when I'm on the phone."

She drew out the just-mentioned phone and started messaging, no doubt having gone a minute too long without exchanging texts with Bobby, and started for the door. Before going out, though, she let out a sigh.

"And if there's anything wrong… please, don't' hide it."

With that, she was out, and the door closed behind her.

First, Luan let out a long breath, as if a block of concrete had been lifted off her lungs. Then, she tiptoed to the door and leaned on it with her ear, making sure to detect Lori's steps as she walked away and down the steps of the stairs.

When she felt she was safe, Luan rushed to the desk and snatched her own mobile phone, then dialled a number. The receiver took only five seconds to answer.

"Hey, Leni."

" _Oh, hi, Luan!"_ Leni's sweet voice came through the phone's speakers, happy as usual. _"Hey, have you changed your idea? I thought you wanted to stay back at home working on that plan-thingy of yours, no?"_

"Yeah, that is true, but there have been some, uh… complications. Oh, but it's nothing too fancy or problematic!" Luan said. "We're still going through with this, Leni. We just have to make things quicker!"

" _Oh, okay!"_

"First off," Luan looked at the door once again distrustfully, then decided to come closer to the window just as an additional form of safety. "We'll have to anticipate things. You got manpower and fuel, sis, and between early this morning and yesterday I've managed to get the ammunition we needed, so we can actually make the preparations to let our grand show happen tomorrow!"

" _Why are you talking like you are a commander of sorts from one of Lincoln's strategy video games?"_

"Oh, woops, you got me," Luan chuckled, "Just thought it was funny to talk that way." And it was also a good way to codename things and make it harder for people to understand what she was up to, but that was beside the point—Leni didn't need to hear that.

"Anyway, as that's quite a move up, we'll have to make sure everyone can make it for the main event and brief them all about the surprise we have in store for the old man. Try to contact everyone and make it so we can meet each other by four o'clock later this afternoon. I'll let you decide the where, just make sure we can get everyone in one place!"

" _I hope everyone will be able to get there… but I'll try to ask them kindly about it!"_

"Oh, and one last thing… by any chance, has Lori asked you something?"

" _Oh, yeah! Lori earlier this morning asked me about you!"_

Luan bleached. "She… did?"

" _Yeah, and I told her everything!"_

Luan probably would have fainted at this point, but it was just too absurd to be fully true, even if it was Leni. She stayed simple, half out of confusion, half to let Leni add more details.

" _I told her I was helping you with a project of sorts and that it was very important for you!"_

"Oh… just, that?"

" _Yep! I knew you were pretty adamant about keeping it a secret surprise, though, so I suggested her to go ask you if she wanted to know more. Did she visit you?"_

"Yeah," Luan admitted. "That's why I asked in the first place. In any case, I've dealt with her—I mean, we just had a chat and we're both good, Leni."

" _Great! I'll go and start texting everyone Luan, there are quite a few people now I gotta message…"_

"Very well. Leni, I'm counting on you," Luan reminded. "I'll wait for you to tell me about the 'where' for the meeting."

" _Of course! See you later, Luan!"_

Luan closed the call, then let out yet another sigh, letting herself lean on the window's edge.

Gosh… this was getting a bit more difficult than she initially expected.

A gust of wind came through the window… and somehow, she felt invigorated. Standing up, she placed herself in a hero-like position, hands on her hips.

No matter! A few obstacles were to be expected, but nothing was insurmountable for the jokester Loud! Her plan was still complete, even without a review, and Flip was going down!

She just needed to meet up with her units—err, the 'helping hands' that were going to join her in her imminent masterpiece.

* * *

Leni and Luan stood side by side on the curb near Royal Woods' park edge. Leni was looking with mild worry at Luan, who had been observing the line of kids in front of them for a whole minute without a word and with narrowed eyes.

Leni's social skills had proved invaluable, and paired with Lincoln's own planning experience they had managed to create a squad of ten individuals. Lincoln was right at the centre: at his left stood some of his friends from school, who he had recruited to aid him (Leni didn't know exactly how). Clyde was upright with his back, valiantly trying to bear Luan's inspecting gaze, while the other kids were mostly unsure what to make of the entire situation: Zach, Liam, Rusty and Girl Jordan.

On Lincoln's right, on the other hand, a portion of the Loud family itself was found, composed of Lynn Jr., Lucy, Lana and Lola. Much differently from the kids, the Louds' interest on the present matter was much more felt, as no one of them knew about what Luan had in store for them yet, and Leni had a hunch that after her request Luan had added her own fair bit of 'convincing' to help them decide whether to join or not. She hadn't told her everything, but it was a hunch—the only girl who would've joined on her own accord was probably Lana.

Before the entire situation could get even more awkward, Luan finally spoke up. "Welcome, friends! Today, we're here to do something great. Far, far greater than anything you could ever imagine!"

"I'm not liking where this is going…" Lola muttered. Luan shot a glare at her that silenced further protests for the time being.

"We're going to make things… even, with a certain gas station owner I'm sure a lot of you know about."

"Flip? So this prank stuff Lincoln told us about is about him. Well, I can't say I would mind getting some fun out of a prank on Flip," Clyde said. "That guy makes some good Flippies, but otherwise he's kind of a jerk."

"Yeah. I recall he once tried to sell some kind of toy to my mom once. Said it was 'good for the kid's mind', but I'm pretty sure that thing was so bootleg it looked like a random mishmash of plastic," Zach recalled.

"Don't mind if I ask, uh, Luan…" Girl Jordan said, "but what happened that made you so willing to do this?"

"That is beyond the point right now, dearie," Luan replied cryptically, "but just know that sometimes, you can't just leave actions from some people go… without consequences."

She winked. "Get it?"

Girl Jordan shuddered, while Zach, Liam and Rusty gulped. "That's what I meant with 'staying vigilant' guys," Lincoln whispered to his friends.

"Now, now, though, enough chit-chat. You're going to take part in my upcoming grand masterpiece, an hour straight of pranking chaos that will leave Flip standing on his knees, something that will start tomorrow morning. Rejoice, for this will—"

"Nah-uh!"

Luan's eyes widened at the interruption. She tried to send another icy glare at the responsible, but Lynn Jr. defiantly bore her gaze. "I wasn't told the details, and I never said I would join this if I didn't like it. I know you well enough Luan that this isn't going to end well, I can _see it in your eyes_ that there's nothing good coming out of this."

"Poppycock! We have a simple enough plan to follow, a well-crafted one that is!" Luan replied. "All of you even have roles created after your own personalities, thanks to the help of my sister Leni here," she gave a playful elbow to said sister, who grunted in agreement. "It's as simple as it sounds, for maximum result!"

Lynn crossed her arms, still unconvinced. "So, you just expect us to join you on our own accord? Nothing to gain?"

"Well…" Rusty intervened. "Can't say I have anything against it. Besides… you said you made it so there was something specifically made for us?"

"That's right!" Luan confirmed. "We've acquired all the resources we needed to make this work, so it was more than possible to make this idea real, Rusty. You, for example, will be tasked to take Flip by surprise and do a joint prank with Clyde and Zach."

"Oh, wow! Team prank! I like it!" Zach commented excitedly.

Luan grinned, already getting the part of the squad not related to her along for the ride was already a huge step forward. Now for the siblings.

"I'm sure you have all had your grievances with Flip in the past. I'm just offering you a way to get back at him all while having fun."

"Mmh… the girl's got a point," Lana admitted.

"And I do have to exercise myself with some ways of punishment," Lola added. When her twin sister looked at her with raised eyebrows, Lola raised her hands defensively. "Hey, nothing personal! Just generic training!"

"One question though… does that mean we can also put our own… spice to the entire thing, Luan?" Lucy said.

"Certainly, Lucy. In fact, according to my plan, we might have to use a few of your pet bats. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a day out."

Lucy's always present neutral face gave space for a weak, but still present smile. "They sure would."

"Hey, what about me?! Can I play dirty and turn Flip's shop into a swamp?" Lana exclaimed.

"No way! We should dress up and trick the old man into walking right into a trap!" Lola countered.

"How about both?"

Lana and Lola looked at Luan, tilting their head in confusion, but Luan was still smiling. "No worries, girls, you will both have your time to shine tomorrow, trust me on this one. In fact…"

She finally looked at Lynn, who was still scowling. "Even you, Lynn, will have to play your part. Listen to me!"

She walked up to Lynn and put a hand over her shoulder before she could say anything. "Imagine Flip's shop as if it was… a field in the sports discipline you're most interested in. The walls, the halls, the shop is your area of play, and the target is Flip."

She extended a hand forward. "This won't be just any prank, Lynn, no! This will be the result of teamwork of all people involved, and there will be only one result to this match we all will strive to achieve."

She closed her hands into a fist. "Victory!"

That said, she let her younger sister go. "Think you're up to the _challenge?"_

Lynn scoffed. "Of course I am… I just, I'm not—ugh! When did you become so convincing!?"

Luan grinned. "Just speaking the truth here, Lynn."

She sighed. "All right, I'm in. Someone has to watch over the younger ones after all."

"Hey, we can watch over ourselves thank you!" Lola protested.

"As for you others, what will you say?" Luan looked at the rest of the group.

"Well, it's not like I have a choice…" Lincoln muttered. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to have Flip reconsider his lifestyle. Heck, we might get free Flippies from this, if he offers them to us to leave him alone."

"And even without that, we'll stand by you! Right, guys?" Clyde said. Rusty, Zach and Liam showed all their thumbs up, already convinced from the very beginning, while Girl Jordan simply nodded, deciding to leave her doubts for later.

Luan took note of this and signalled Leni to do her thing. "Okay, guys! I'm all happy you're willing to help Luan with her project of sorts. Now, she's prepared a few papers with some guidelines with what you're going to do tomorrow." She walked up to the line and started right from Girl Jordan, smiling as brightly as usual. It worked as the little girl couldn't help smiling back.

"If there's anything you don't like please tell us so that we can make it work!"

Once the papers had been given out, Leni joined back with Luan as she watched the group murmuring to each other. "I gotta say Leni, you really did a great job. I thought they'd be a bit harder to convince, to be honest."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I didn't think it'd be this easy to—oh! I mean, they sure were pretty willing to help me out. So you must've done your fair bit of explaining yourself. Thank you for that."

Leni smiled. "It's no biggie, Luan. Anything to help you, right?"

"Yeah right… now, after this matter is done, I'll only have one thing last to do today. Do you mind coming with me to do it? It's nothing particularly complicated, but it's something important for me, to make everything feel right how it needs to be."

"Well… yeah, of course. What did you have in mind, Luan?" Leni said, her mind already foreseeing something worrying ahead.

"It's pretty simple. You know how wars in history usually get declared before actually happening, right?"

* * *

"Thank heavens the day is over!" Flip let out as he flipped the keys for his shop back in his pocket and gave a last, passing glance to the shutters he had just closed. It had been a boring day at work for him, most days where boring but today was even more so. There had not been any opportunities to earn a few bonus bucks in town either, which meant that not even his secondary hobby had helped in stifling his boredom.

Oh well… now there was only his good couch waiting for him at home.

He turned around, fully intent in making his travel back home as quick as possible, but his plans had to be put aside as he noticed something ahead. He scratched his tired eyes, trying to pinpoint what it was.

Two teens. Oh brother, now what?

"If you two hotheads want to cause some mischief or whatever—well, I'm sorry but shop's closed! Come tomorrow morning again!" Flip yelled at them, not even noticing _who_ said teens were.

They didn't move, in fact one of them stepped forward. Flip had already long since forgotten the stunt he had pulled with a brown-haired girl in the Loud family days before, so it didn't make much of a difference for him to recognise Luan.

Behind her, Leni fumbled with a couple of paper sheets, something written over them. Before Flip could wonder aloud what she was doing, the blonde finally managed to utter some words.

"Now, uuh, Flip! Owner of Flip's Food & Fuel!"

"Well, thank you, I didn't know that," Flip rebutted. Luan didn't seem to be fazed by the retort: she stayed valiantly in front of the grumbling shopkeeper, hands on her hips and a grin over her face. Flip didn't know what she was so serious about, but he didn't care either. He just wanted to get to his couch, for crying out loud!

"I mean, owner and responsible of it! Yeah!" Leni tried to make her point straighter, but Flip only raised an eyebrow. Sighing, she continued, "We're here today to officialise a sort of… declaration of war? Are you sure that's the right thing to say, Luan…?"

"Just keep going, Leni, you're doing great…" Luan told Leni as quietly as possible, keeping her eyes fixed at an increasingly confused Flip.

"Okay. Declaration of 'war', as in a challenge! Luan challenges you, Flip, for your prank has been taken and recognised, but repaliation will soon come!"

Then, she leaned over closer to Luan and whispered, "Is that even a word?"

"Not now, Leni! And it's retaliation!" Luan hushed. At this point, Flip's patience had completely depleted itself.

"Now, now, I know you gals like to talk about people and make up a big image of them, and I'm flattered, I'm being honest," he said, "but right now I just don't have the time for your mish-mash. Gotta go home, get something in ma' belly, and then snore my way into tomorrow… Gee, why do I even keep the shop open on Saturday morning? Should just edit the timetable and be done with it…"

He simply walked past them, Leni too befuddled and Luan too incredulous to do anything. The latter, however, needed only a couple of seconds to turn around and call him out.

"Flip! Just know this!" she shouted, "Tomorrow, we will get even! And you will taste what it means to fight Luan Loud at her own game! Remember this challenge!"

Flip was already halfway into entering his truck. "Sure do! Now, goodnight, and don't you dare follow me!"

He sped away, leaving Luan and Leni without much to work with.

"That was… quick," Leni commented. Luan slightly turned her head with a twitch to glare at her, which had the achieved effect of intimidating her.

"I-I don't know why or how Flip seems to be not taking us seriously…" Luan mused, scratching her head, "but he _has to remember_ what he's done. It was too smart of a move to pull off not to!"

Her tone grew in firmness. "No, I'll not let his mind games mess with me. He _is_ going to get it tomorrow… he is going to understand what's the full extent of Luan Loud's pranking masterfulness!"

She looked at Leni, who had made a step back, but she didn't seem to be annoyed at her anymore. Her grin, though, was still disturbing.

"Tomorrow, big sis… we're writing comedy's history!"


End file.
